Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump called for the U.S. to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that is currently over the central United States. Trump made his comments in a Friday post on Truth Social, writing: “SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON.”

“I have taken my last COVID vaccine without RCT level evidence it will reduce my risk of severe disease,” Dr. Todd Lee, an infectious disease expert at McGill University, wrote on Twitter. Lee was pointing to the lack of randomized clinical trial (RCT) results for the updated boosters, which were cleared in the United States and Canada in the fall of 2022 primarily based on data from experiments with mice. _______ “Pay close attention to note this isn’t anti-vaccine sentiment. This is ‘provide [hard] evidence of benefit to justify ongoing use’ which is very different. It is only fair for...

Pope Francis launches ‘ecological conversion’ training center at papal summer residenceThe new center will operate out of Castel Gandolfo and will provide a training ground to promote the ‘convictions, new attitudes and lifestyles’ necessary for ‘ecological conversion.’VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has launched an education center in the traditional Papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo to promote the “ecological conversion” which he called for in Laudato Si. Pope Francis’ new initiative was announced in a press release from the governorate of the Vatican City State on February 2, which hailed the launch of the “Borgo Laudato Si” project. In...

A German woman is accused of murdering a lookalike she found on Instagram in an elaborate attempt to fake her own death. The alleged perpetrator — identified only as 23-year-old Sharaban K. — killed beauty blogger Khadidja O., also 23, in Ingolstadt, Germany last August, according to investigators. Khadidja O. had been brutally stabbed more than 50 times, with her body left on the back seat of Sharaban K.’s Mercedes. Sharaban K. and an accomplice — identified as her boyfriend Sheqir K.— subsequently went into hiding. When the body was found, police traced the car’s registration to Sharaban K.’s family....

The Kansas City Chiefs’ unprecedented success has made them the darling of the National Football League. Their high-flying quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, has attracted new fans from around the world, and local businesses benefit from the millions of dollars spent by spectators reveling in the team's success. But, as the city at-large celebrates their third Super Bowl appearance in four seasons, many fans feel conflicted. Some feel outright alienated every time they see that arrowhead-shaped logo or the so-called “tomahawk chop.” “Our people were rounded up, kids stolen from their families, sent to boarding schools … and stripped of their culture...

Horrifying surveillance footage captured the moment a bicycle-riding California doctor was mowed down by a car at a busy Dana Point intersection – followed by the driver exiting his vehicle and allegedly stabbing him to death. Ring camera footage from a nearby home shows Dr. Michael John Mammone, 58, flying over the hood of a white Lexus on the Crown Valley Parkway intersection on the Pacific Coast Highway around 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Officials previously confirmed the suspect, Vanroy Evan Smith, 39, then got out of his car brandishing a knife, and inflicted more injuries upon Mammone. The motive behind...

Alex Cora didn’t exactly hide his sign-stealing ways – in fact, the alleged mastermind behind the Astros’ shocking 2017 scandal bragged about them to his new team. Members of the 2018 Red Sox would listen to their new manager – along with bullpen coach Craig Bjornson, another ex-Houston staffer – discuss their scheme “in a late-night setting” and “especially when they started drinking,” according to Evan Drellich’s new book, “Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess.” “We stole that [expletive] World Series,” Cora reportedly told his players, according to a Boston Herald transcript.

A Native American teenager who died while attending a Utah boarding school for at-risk youth had been sick in the weeks beforehand, but staff members had been trained to assume students would lie about being ill and did not try to bring her to the hospital until the day she died, former staff members said in interviews. Taylor Goodridge, 17, collapsed at Diamond Ranch Academy in Hurricane, Utah, on Dec. 20. While an official cause of death has not yet been determined, her family said in a lawsuit that they believe she died of sepsis, a life-threatening condition that arises...

President Joe Biden delivered another word salad on Thursday when he proudly proclaimed, “More than half the women in my administration are women,” according to a video of his speech. “But here’s what matters: more than half the women in my cabinet, more than half the people, more than half the women in my administration are women,” Biden said: BIDEN: "More than half the women in my administration are women." pic.twitter.com/VAM3Udb3fx — Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 2, 2023 Biden spoke at the White House to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). That piece of legislation...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Public Schools has announced a hiring freeze, claiming it's because of shrinking enrollment and uncertain funding. In a letter sent to parents on Tuesday, the district says they have 3,000 fewer students enrolled now than they did before the start of the pandemic PPS also said they expect to lose around another 500 students next year. The district stated that pandemic relief funds have started drying up and that they have not received a strong indication of adequate funding from the state. The hiring freeze will start in the central office, where they will also sweep...

A judge caused a stir in Colombia by announcing that he used the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to rule on a case concerning an autistic child, we learned Thursday from concordant sources."This opens up immense prospects, today it could be ChatGPT, but in three months it could be any other alternative to facilitate the drafting of legal texts on which the judge can rely", declared Judge Juan Manuel Padilla, on local radio. "However, the goal is not to replace the judges," he stressed.In a Jan. 30 ruling, he ruled on a mother's request for her autistic son to be exempted...

President Biden’s plan to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey faced another potential roadblock on Thursday when 27 U.S. senators, most of them Democrats, informed him in a letter that if Ankara does not stop blocking Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO, Congress will not support the sale. “Congress cannot consider future support for Türkiye, including the sale of F-16 fighter jets, until Türkiye completes ratification of the accession protocols [for the two countries’ admission into NATO],” wrote the senators. Sweden and Finland last year applied to join the transatlantic alliance, jettisoning long-held neutrality in response to the Russian invasion....

A new study published last month by the National Institutes for Health suggests “a protective role” for a tiny yellow pill that costs almost nothing. Study is at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9864223/ Before we go on, understand that I’m one of those crazy million-supplements-a-day people. We’ll get to that in a second, but first, let’s look at the science behind vitamin D and COVID. You can buy a year’s worth of vitamin D supplements for about $12 on Amazon. January’s NIH meta-analysis shows that taking it “results in a decreased risk of death and ICU admission.” It would be fair to note that...

Notre-Dame Cathedral's spire will be back in place by the end of the year, but a full reopening following the devastating fire of 2019 will not happen before next year's Paris Olympic Games. The reconstruction is still on track for completion by the end of 2024, the culture ministry told AFP. SNIP It means the 12th-century cathedral, which previously saw about 12 million annual visitors, will not be able to welcome attendees of the Olympic Games which Paris is hosting in July 2024 and August 2024.

Experts have warned that the recent detection of bird flu in mammals including foxes, otters, minks, seals and even grizzly bears is concerning but emphasised that the virus would have to significantly mutate to spread between humans. Since late 2021, Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu, with North and South America also experiencing severe outbreaks. This has led to the culling of tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain. The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.

The United States and the Philippines have agreed to restart joint patrols in the South China Sea as the longtime allies seek to counter China's military rise, a US Defense Department statement said. The two countries had suspended maritime patrols in the hotly contested area under the rule of former president Rodrigo Duterte. During a visit to Manila by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he and Philippine counterpart Carlito Galvez "agreed to restart joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea to help address (security) challenges", the statement said on Thursday (Feb 2).

GOP lawmakers are calling for the United States to shoot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon found floating over Montana on Wednesday. The Pentagon said it would not shoot down the balloon, arguing it "does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time," and China blamed the incursion into U.S. airspace on a civilian aircraft that had deviated off course. Montana is home to sensitive nuclear military installations. "It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area," Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), the...

(Reuters) - School meals for millions of children in the United States would include less added sugar, more whole grains, and lower sodium content under new standards proposed by the Biden administration on Friday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the updated standards, which would be rolled out over the next several years, were essential to tackling health concerns like childhood obesity and to preparing young people for adult life. "This is a national security imperative. It’s a health care imperative for our children. It’s an equity issue. It’s an educational achievement issue. And it’s an economic competitiveness issue," he said...

Basically, it's all about money and the US wanting to squeeze Germany out of a major sector of the arms market...This is nearly a must-watch item.

Jewish-Roman War: Nero & the Year of the 4 EmperorsGnostic Informant | 35K subscribers | 7,594 views | July 11, 2022